nourished those only who gathered it for their daily use : and, if the poor will avail themselves of the bounty scattered in our fields, they must go out and gather it. Were all the harvest left upon the field, it would benefit none, unless it were reaped and appropriated to our use : so all the promises of salvation will have been given to us in vain, if we do not exert ourselves, from day to day, to appropriate them to ourselves, for our own personal benefit. But, if we will " labour thus for the meat that endureth unto eternal life, the Son of Man will give it us" according to the utmost extent of our necessities. Then shall we gather all the blessings, both of grace and glory; for no one of which have we any other claim, than as gratuitous lar- gesses, bestowed by the Lord of the harvest on his necessitous and dependent vassals.]
And can we have any stronger argument than this for liberality to the poor ?
[Methinks, " the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow," should be made to share our temporal blessings, when we are so richly and gratuitously nourished with those which are spiritual and eternal. We are taught to " love one another, as Christ has loved use." And when St. Paul was urging the Corinthian Church to liberality, he could find no stronger argument than this ; " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich f." Say, Bre- thren, whether this consideration be not amply sufficient to animate us to the most enlarged liberality for liis sake ? Yes, truly ; instead of grudging to others the remnants of our har- vest, we should be ready to say with Zacchaeus, " Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poorg." Indeed, even for our own sakes we might practise this divine lesson : for " if we give to the poor, we lend to the Lord ; and whatsoever we lay out, he will pay us again." In truth, to " honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, is the way, the surest way, to fill our barns with plenty, and to make our presses burst out with new wine V But I rather dwell on the other motive only; because the " love of Christ," if duly felt in our hearts, " will constrain us" to every possible exercise of love to him, and to the poor for his sake1.]
Let me now, then, address you all —
1. As Gleaners, avail yourselves of your privilege —
[I say again, the whole field is open before you : and, as God's servant, I have been commissioned to " scatter handfuls
e Eph. v. 2. f 2 Cor. viii. 9. e Luke xix. 8.
h Prov. iii. 9, 10. > Matt. xxv. 45.